LamarCheeks

Dang. Flipping back and forth between Toiletmakers-Illini and Twerps-'Cats. ... Last I looked, it was 'Cats 55-50. Now, it's Twerps 58-55. Am guessing the Cats' magic has run out -- at least for tonight.

Dakich, who's the color man in West Lafayette for Toiletmaker-Illinois game: "I love this crowd. To me, this is the best place in college basketball." OK, Danny boy -- whatever you say.

I have heard the story about Herbert demanding we hire Sampson. I didn't realize he thought Kelvin was black. He is Native American (Lumbee Indian), so I guess he would've satisfied Herbert's demand for a minority ... I would've been fine with Beilein, but I would've wanted no part of Stallings. First, he hadn't really accomplished anything. Second, he's a Purdue guy. Man, I'm just not comfortable with a Purdue person coaching us (although Moren so far as worked out ... but Versyp was a huge mistake). I do remember hearing Stallings' name bandied about after Davis resigned. If memory serves, the main connection was that Greenspan (our AD at the time) had hired him at Illinois State ... Sampson is a good coach, but our team had somewhat of a thuggish image under him. I remember seeing a story that with the exception of Eric Gordon and D.J. White, pretty much everyone on the team was smoking a lot of dope. And this is what always bugged me about Kelvin: When he took the job, he was told to stop the extra texting and phone calls -- whatever it was that got him in trouble at Oklahoma. And he didn't stop! I realize that what he got busted for is no longer a violation and it almost seemed a silly one back then, but the reality is -- it was a violation. And he kept doing it -- when he was told not to.

It was added about 5-6 years ago.

I'd say Maryland probably is a little better than us, but sheesh -- we're making it easy for them.

We've had -- I think -- two shot-clock violations, a 10-second violation and about a half-dozen (if not more) other turnovers in the backcourt when we couldn't beat the press. Get that cleaned up and we might have a chance. Can't have that many empty possessions.

Playing passively. Missing easy shots. Not grabbing loose balls and available rebounds. ... If we don't get these things corrected, this'll get out of hand in a hurry.

Down 16-15 after a quarter ... Not bad considering our start. ... Missing some easy buckets, though. Need to start hitting those.

Bendu is back. Hopefully, that's a good sign.

Damn, that's not the start we needed. ... Struggling just to get the ball past half court.

I wonder if the players really would have bailed had Treloar or Davis not coached them that season? IMO, here's what should've happened: IU lets Davis coach that season with the interim tag. Then afterward, say "Thanks, Mike. You got us through a tough season and we appreciate that. But we're going to go in a different direction." ... At some point when he worked for Knight, Davis interviewed for the Delaware job, but didn't get it. So he's not good enough for the Blue Hens, but we're gonna give him the keys to one of the most storied programs in the country? That shouldn't have happened. ... After that one season with Davis as interim, you then have time to sit back and do a thorough search and find the right person (though knowing the IU administration, the would've botched it up!) -- and since the season was mildly successful, Davis is now in a position to get a decent mid-major job. It's a win-win, instead of a big gamble. ... Would we have gotten to the title game the next season? Maybe, maybe not. But the Davis years after that were pretty lean -- showing that he just wasn't ready for a gig like that. ... Unfortunately, the IU brass didn't learn from that situation years later when Hepp passed and Bill Lynch was interim football coach for a season. After that one year, you thank Lynch and send him on his way ... From all accounts, Lynch and Davis are fine, upstanding men -- but they were in way over their heads coaching programs at a Power 5 school.

I don't want to beat the Twerps as badly as I do the Toiletmakers, but I'd really, really like to see us go on the road and get a big win tonight. I can't explain it, but something about Brenda Frese really bugs me. And we've never beaten them. There's a first time for everything. Hoping our gals can make it happen tonight.

There's been some talk here that Justin might try to finish his undergrad in three years, then play his final season elsewhere as a grad transfer. Not sure if that'll happen, but it's been mentioned ...

My bad -- didn't see the shot clock. ... Am trying to watch -- on a tablet -- and work at the same time.

Whew! ... Why do we like to make things so difficult? Helluva win, though!

Al, I told you -- NO MORE 3s!!!

How you you airball a wide-open 3? There wasn't anybody within 5 feet of him.

No more 3s for Al.

Couple dunks from the other night, including a nice baseline drive. Given the status of our current team, though, I'd rather see him knocking down a few jump shots!!! (He had the crowd of 30 or so really rocking!)

Another one bites the dust: Beltran out as Mets' manager. ... Never lost a game!

This whole BTN+ thing still honks me off. Yes, I know I can pay $9 or $10 a month to watch IU sports, but I'm already paying a truckload of money to a cable company that gets BTN and am tired of ponying up. When I first got BTN, one channel next to it was clear, so you actually could get more than one B1G game at a time, but that's not the case anymore. ... So on a Saturday afternoon, if Penn State is playing Maryland and IU is playing Northwestern in football at the same time, because I'm out East -- I'm most likely stuck with Maryland-PSU. But I can at least stream the IU game on my tablet or laptop or phone -- whatever the case may be. Why can't they do that with all their offerings? Because I'm already a subscriber to a cable company that gets BTN, I should be able to stream tonight's game without paying any extra. It's a damn farce!

Hoibergs: 67 Millers: 62

I think Archie is kind of in a Catch-22 with Green. ... If you filled him with truth serum, he'd probably say he'd prefer to sit him or play him very little. But the truth is, Green is the best shooter on a team that can't shoot. And when Archie throws him out there, he's probably hoping that the switch will come on and he'll start nailing 3s -- like against OSU in the tourney last year, against FSU earlier this season or against OSU again last Saturday. ... Unfortunately, those moments are way too few and far between ... I'd say keep bringing him off the bench and each game, throw him out there for a five- or six-minute stretch. If he makes a couple 3s, he gets a couple more minutes. If not, that's it, he's done for the game --- or gets a couple minutes here and there just to spell Rob. The TOs, bad decisions, porous defense and seemingly poor attitude aren't worth the risk. And obviously, I'm not there behind the scenes, but I can't imagine he provides much leadership. Every time I see him come in, I think "This is gonna be the game. He's gonna knock down a few 3s and help open things up. And that's gonna carry over throughout the rest of the season." ... But it just doesn't happen. Getting hot once in every 15 games or so doesn't cut it, and it's never been sustained for more than a game. As of now, Green is third on the team at 24 minutes a game. If I were Archie, I think that needs to cut back to 12-15. Maybe less. You can't keep playing him in hopes he'll go on a shooting tear. It just doesn't happen often enough. We keep talking about "Bad Devonte" and "Good Devonte." ... But really, what's the ratio? Seems to me it's about 9:1 toward the bad. It's just no longer worth the risk to justify that much PT, in my opinion.

I'm probably over-simplifying, but if we make baskets, we win. Sure, the offense could be run more smoothly -- a lot more smoothly. But from what I see, we're getting decent shots. They're just not going in. And that's been the theme all season, so it's not bad luck -- apparently, we just have a bunch of guys who can't shoot. And for a Power 5 program, that's very perplexing. A couple games back, Archie said our woes weren't because of awful shooting. They were because guys weren't getting the ball in the right spots to score. Now, Archie obviously forgot more about basketball than I'll never know, but I disagree with him there. We're getting good looks -- even wide-open 3-pointers -- but we just aren't making them. We're clanking them. Again. And again. And again. And (oversimplifying again), you HAVE to hit those at this level. You just can't miss wide-open 3s. They're not easy to get, so when you do get 'em, you gotta make 'em. We're even missing bunnies and easy put-backs. Shot 32 percent tonight. Made 2 of 19 3s. That ain't good.